Rev. David Myers Has Been Rallying His Fold in the Wake of a Sept. 9 Fire

By CARY McMULLENLedger Religion Editor

Sunday

Sep 30, 2007 at 12:01 AMSep 30, 2007 at 9:24 AM

A storm is approaching, and the wind whistles eerily through holes in the roof above the dark, ruined sanctuary of NorthRidge Church. Though the pews are mostly intact, debris lies everywhere, and the wind cannot blow away the acrid, clinging smell of smoke.

It is Sunday morning, two weeks since a fire nearly destroyed the Haines City church's sanctuary, but the Rev. David Myers, NorthRidge's senior pastor, is remarkably upbeat.

"I can't explain it. People have asked me why, but I don't have the answers," he tells the congregation gathered in the church's school gymnasium. "But providentially, in the mind of God, he made preparations for this fire. ... In our lack of planning, a master architect was at work. I want you to know it's OK. We're not outside God's blessing, we're not outside God's plan."

Myers has been rallying his congregation in the wake of the Sept. 9 fire. After the service, he says following the initial shock of the loss, there has been "a real sense of excitement" in the congregation.

"We're still able to meet. We use the two buildings we have on campus. ... It has been emotional. There's a sense of loss, but anticipation as well. Tragedy has a way of developing a sense of resilience within people," he says.

The church, originally First Baptist Church of Haines City, was established in 1921. It moved from downtown to its current location on the outskirts of the city in 1989, adopting a new name to go with its new 600-seat white sanctuary. The first service in the building was held almost 17 years to the day before it burned.

About 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 9, a Hispanic congregation that meets at the church was concluding its worship service when people noticed smoke at the front of the sanctuary. Myers says that fire officials have told him the fire started in the vicinity of a changing room adjacent to the baptistry. The cause has not been determined, but arson has been ruled out, he says.

Everyone evacuated safely from the building, and firefighters arrived quickly, but there was extensive fire, smoke and water damage throughout. Someone called Myers, and he arrived to find about 150 people gathered outside the church. One of them was church member Joy Sims. As they watched the firefighters douse the blaze, she says, people embraced one another and prayed.

"It was sort of like having a mini-revival," she says. "On the way here ... one of my thoughts was, can anything good come out of a fire? But the pastor had just preached to us that the church is not this building, the church is sitting on the pews. So the Lord said to me, the church is not on fire, the building is. And I thought perhaps this could set the church on fire to greater compassion, greater passion."

Sims' husband, Kermit Sims, joined the church in 1954 and was on the building committee that constructed the new sanctuary. He says there is a sense of attachment to the building but expressed a determined optimism.

"I haven't heard anything negative or sad. We have to keep on keeping on," he says.

In addition to the contents of the sanctuary, including musical equipment and more than 300 Bibles, the fire damaged the church's administrative offices. Four secretaries were able to use space in the church's preschool, but the six pastors on staff are "floating," Myers says.

"The reality is setting in a little bit," he says.

Myers, 45, has been senior pastor at NorthRidge for 3 1/2 years. A native of North Carolina, he came to NorthRidge from a Baptist church in Kannapolis, N.C. The next step for his church seems uncertain, especially because the extent of the damage is not yet fully known, and the church's insurance company has not made a determination of the cost of repairs. He says engineers do not know if the sanctuary is structurally sound.

"They're going to try their best to salvage it. They're going to pull the roof off and evaluate the ability for it to be rebuilt," he says.

It's clear the church faces a long process of recovery. Nevertheless, Myers chooses to stress the positive. Although the church's computers were lost, the church had previously stored its data in offsite servers. And the church had built a school, NorthRidge Christian Academy, in 1999, including a full gymnasium, which is now converted to a makeshift sanctuary on Sundays.

The first Sunday after the fire drew an overflow crowd, but on Sept. 23, about 350 people were present, which Myers says is about normal. A praise-music ensemble led the congregation in singing "How Great Thou Art" and "You Are Glorious." When it comes time to preach Myers, in an open-collar shirt, sits on a stool with a floppy Bible in his lap. He asks the congregation what will happen after the emotions sparked by the fire begin to fade.

"My prayer has been (the fire) might ignite the hearts of us as individuals to go out into this city and impact it with the love of Christ," he says.

The service has a traditional Baptist conclusion, with an invitation for people to come forward and be saved as the congregation sings "Just As I Am." A couple of families come forward and make a commitment and are introduced to the church. Everyone is all smiles.

Just before he dismisses the congregation, Myers gives them a half-joking word to hang onto.